A Customer Experience Audit for Your Fitness Business

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The customer experience includes every potential touchpoint a customer has with your studio or gym. In other words, it’s a holistic view of your fitness business—and it’s extremely important.

An exceptional experience is what keeps clients coming back. It’s also what sets your fitness business apart from the rest.

The key to an excellent customer experience? Consistency.

Whether customers are scrolling through your social media, checking out at your front desk, or looking at your schedule online, the experience you provide should be consistent, branded, and seamless.

This audit outlines the four customer experience components—awareness, action/conversion, loyalty, and advocacy—to determine where your business excels and where there’s room to improve.

Do you offer an exceptional customer experience? Use this audit to find out.

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Awareness

Website

Is your website branding consistent with all of your other customer touchpoints (e.g., signage, social channels, etc.)?

Can customers review your schedule and classes online?

Does your website have a prominent call-to-action (CTA) to purchase your introductory offer?

Is your website mobile-responsive?

Is your website optimised for search so customers can find you?

Does your website feature staff names, bios, and photos so clients feel more comfortable booking?

Social media

Is your social media presence consistent across all channels and with your brand?

Do you post and engage (respond to comments/messages) regularly on Facebook, Instagram, and/or Twitter?

Does each of your social media profiles include up-to-date business details, i.e., a branded profile picture, completed about sections, phone number, and address?

Do you encourage your instructors to share their classes with their own social networks?

Review sites

Have you claimed and optimised your review profiles (Google My Business, etc.)?

Do you respond within 24-48 hours to ALL reviews, both positive and negative?

Yes

Yes

Yes

Not yet

Not yet

Not yet

Ready to improve your

website?

Want to up your social

media game?

Need to optimize your review sites?

How do customers find more information about your business?

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Mindbody app

Are you listed on the Mindbody app?

Is your Mindbody app listing optimised with your business address, location and photos, keywords, etc.?

Action/Conversion

Booking online

Can customers find, book, and pay for classes on your website?

Can customers find and purchase membership contracts on your website?

Front desk

Does your front-desk staff greet and provide a personalised experience for every customer walking through the door?

Do you have a documented process for your front desk to ensure that your in-studio experience is consistent?

Do you have a seamless intake and waiver process for clients attending their first class?

Does your front-desk staff anticipate the client’s needs (offer a water bottle or towel, a studio tour, locker, etc.)?

Is your front-desk staff proficient in your fitness studio software so they can respond quickly to inquiries?

Does your front desk have a way to convert missed calls into paying clients?

Do clients have a seamless check-in experience, or are they waiting in lines at your front desk before class?

Yes

Yes

Yes

Not yet

Not yet

Not yet

Ready to optimize your

online booking?

Want to revamp your front desk?

Ready to get on the app?

Do you keep your classes full and your customers happy with seamless booking, in-person, and virtual experiences?

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Yes Not yet

In-person experience

Do you provide members with personalised workouts?

Do you use in-studio gamification that allows members to track their results in real-time?

Do you facilitate community with in-studio challenges and friendly competition?

Virtual experience

Do you offer video-on-demand (VOD) and/or live streaming offerings?

Does your virtual experience align with what you offer in person?

Is your video platform integrated so clients can log in as usual and book from your schedule?

Does your platform automatically send live stream links and check in live attendees?

Can you easily record live streamed classes and automatically upload to your on-demand library?

Checkout

Can your staff process payments quickly and on a mobile device?

Can your staff easily store contracts and receipts and send them to clients electronically?

Do you have an all-in-one point-of-sale (POS) system?

Is your software and payments processor PCI Level 1 Certified?

Need to upgrade checkout

experience?

Looking to take your in-person

experience to the next level?

Want to enhance your virtual

offerings

Yes

Yes

Not yet

Not yet

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Advocacy

Reviews and referrals

Do you regularly encourage existing clients to leave reviews?

Do you reward clients for referring friends and bringing guests with a referral system?

Yes Not yet

Want to boost reviews and referrals?

Do you turn your clients into brand ambassadors?

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Loyalty

Email and text message marketing

Do you have segmented lists and campaigns customised to different types of clients?

Have you set up automated email campaigns for:

• New clients?

• Clients who’ve purchased your intro offer but nothingelse?

• Clients who haven’t visited in 30 days? 60 days?

Do you stay engaged with clients by regularly sending newsletters with upcoming events, fitness and nutrition tips, etc.

Are your emails customised with your logo, brand colours, and brand voice?

Branded mobile app

Do you have a branded mobile app to reinforce your brand experience and make it easier for clients to book classes?

Do you send push notifications to stay connected with your community?

How do you engage your customers and keep them coming back?

Yes

Yes

Not yet

Not yet

Want to engage customers with email and text?

Ready to upgrade to a branded mobile app?

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Dig Deeper: AwarenessYour WebsiteWhen well-designed and optimised, your website represents your brand and helps visitors feel confident in your services.

Your website should have a consistent feel to all other customer touchpoints, including printed collateral, emails, social media, and your physical space. It should also highlight your schedule, pricing, and any introductory offer(s) you have. With Mindbody’s fitness software, clients can view your schedule and book and pay for classes—without ever leaving your branded site.

Your website should be mobile-responsive, meaning the layout of your site is designed to adapt to whatever screen it’s displayed on. With 70% of internet traffic coming from mobile devices, it’s a fair assumption that most customers are looking at your website, and want to book your services, on their phones or tablets.

Your website is also where prospective customers find out about your business. Are you doing everything you can to help them find yours? With proper search engine optimisation (SEO), your website will appear higher in results for relevant searches. Download our checklist to learn how to optimise your fitness studio’s website for search engines.

For more website tips, check out our guide on How to Update the Website for Your Fitness Business.

Social mediaSocial media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and even TikTok help businesses like yours reach and engage with both prospective and existing customers.

Like your website, your social media profiles should be consistent with the rest of your customer touchpoints. Make sure you give customers a genuine and consistent sense of your brand with every post, story, comment, and message.

Regular engagement (posting valuable content and responding to comments/messages promptly) helps prospective customers get to know your brand. Don’t be afraid to provide the same information across multiple platforms but be sure to adapt the content to fit each platform and its audience (a video on Instagram, an article on Twitter, etc.).

Customers also look at your social media for business details. Give them what they’re looking for. On Facebook, for example, this includes:

• Branded profile picture and cover photo

• Professional photos of your space

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Your instructors have their own personal networks on social media. Encourage them to broadcast their upcoming classes with posts, direct messages, or even emails. Mindbody’s social sharing feature allows you to quickly create and share links directly from the Mindbody business app.

Are you using social media effectively to grow your business? Download our guide to refine your social media strategy.

Review sitesProspective customers are looking at your review profiles to learn more about your business. Give them the details they’re looking for: Fill in your business name, address, phone number, website, and description. Here’s how to put your business on the map with Google My Business.

Your customers are interested in what others are saying about your business. They’re also interested in what you say back. How and when you respond to your reviews is just as important as the reviews themselves. Always respond to reviews within 24-48 hours and never delete a negative review. Instead, respond promptly and politely, offer a solution, and provide an offline point of contact.

See how you can encourage glowing reviews with Mindbody’s Marketing Suite.

Mindbody app

The Mindbody app brings new customers to your door. It attracts consumers who are searching for businesses like yours. Make a good first impression by adding your business address, business/location description, location photos, staff photos and bios, and keywords.

Learn more about the Mindbody app.

Dig Deeper: Action/ConversionOnline bookingKeep your clients coming back with an effortless online booking experience. Your schedule should be easily accessible from anywhere and up to date. Mindbody’s fitness software allow you to integrate your schedule and accept online payments from your website. Let your clients view your schedule, book classes and appointments, and pay for them as well as autopay memberships and gift cards on desktop and mobile—without ever leaving your branded site.

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Front deskThe customer experience at your front desk is one of the most important customer touchpoints. In fact, it can make or break how customers feel about your entire brand. After having a single negative experience, 51% of customers say they won’t visit a business again.

Hiring the right people for your front desk, and training them well, is important. A documented training process and operations manual reiterates your core values and outlines the day-to-day processes and policies employees need to know. Check out our Complete Guide to Staffing and Staffing Template for Fitness Businesses to refine yours.

At your front desk, staff should consistently provide a personalized experience that aligns with your brand. They should:

• Greet every customer by name or introduce themselves• Answer questions warmly• Anticipate the client’s needs before they do (offer a water bottle or towel, a studio tour, locker, etc.)• Process transactions and resolve customer requests through your fitness studio software with ease

Your front-desk staff can easily learn how to welcomes new clients, work with schedules, and collect payments within the software through Mindbody’s free software certifications.

An efficient check-in at your front desk is also important. Avoid lines that delay classes and frustrate clients. Mindbody’s Class Check-in app turns the rush before class into a simple tap. Front-desk staff can focus on ringing transactions and interacting with clients. Your instructors can prep for classes with time to spare.

Even the most trained, organized, and effective front-desk staff can use assistance when things get busy and when calls are missed (Did you know that 62% of calls to small businesses go unanswered?). Using artificial intelligence (or AI), your front-desk staff can focus on interacting with the customers in front of them, rather than worrying about missed calls—and lost revenue for your business. What is artificial intelligence? In the case of Messenger[ai] it’s an AI assistant who captures and responds 24/7 to all missed phone calls via automated and instant text responses. Your AI assistant can view staff schedules, book appointments, and even take payments. Messenger[ai] can also answer customer questions, forwarding to live chat with your staff when necessary. Less time taking calls and answering frequently asked questions means taking better care of your clients.

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Virtual ExperienceYour virtual experience should be just as seamless as what you offer in-person.

To be successful, you need a software that’s reliable, easy-to-use (for both staff and clients), and integrated. With Mindbody's Virtual Wellness Platform it’s simple to offer virtual services effectively and efficiently. Built specifically for the wellness industry, the virtual wellness platform offers all the features you need to be successful, including a pay wall (so only those who pay for classes can attend), email automation (to provide access to clients without extra work on your end), and automatic uploads (to give members access to authentic content anytime they want). Plus, the feature doesn't require any new passwords or third-party apps for staff or clients to log in, pay for, and enjoy virtual workouts.

Check out our step-by-step guide to bringing video into your fitness business.

CheckoutYou might be at your front desk, you might not. You should be able to accept payments through your software and/or a mobile device. With the business app, your payment processing is integrated with the software so it’s easy to accept payments and complete sales wherever your day takes you.

Keeping records of your transactions is key. Payment and contract details should be kept on file for easy reference. You can go paperless with digital contracts/memberships and receipts with the business app.

As a Mindbody customer, you’ll have access to mobile POS options loaded with your business app. You can speed up every transaction, and take all forms of payment, including Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Samsung Pay. Capture digital signatures for contracts/memberships, waivers, and receipts, and print or email receipts, too.

Your customer’s credit card information should be your top priority. With Mindbody, all credit card data is stored at PCI Level I standard data security (the highest standard out there), so you can rest assured that it’s safe.

Learn more about the business app and payments for fitness businesses.

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Dig Deeper: LoyaltyEmail and text message marketingSet up automatic email and text campaigns that trigger for the right clients at the right time with Marketing Suite.

Marketing Suite’s robust automation helps to convert first visits, win back lost customers, and keep customers engaged based on criteria and segmented lists you create. Plus, you can set it and forget it, which means no ongoing work for you and your team.

Automated campaigns help nurture prospects and clients, regardless of where they are in their journey. Whether you’re looking to convert new visitors to members or encourage referrals from loyal customers, automated email and text campaigns send the right message at the right time.

Consistent email newsletters can be one of the most effective ways to promote a new service or retail product, showcase your expertise, and maintain relationships with your clients. Marketing Suite fully integrates with your software so sending to your entire customer list is a breeze.

Remember: Each customer touchpoint should represent your brand. With Marketing Suite, you’ll have access to customised email templates. That way, you can create campaigns that align with the brand your customers love.

Check out our email marketing guide to learn more best practices.

Branded mobile appCustomers want to check your schedule and find, book, and pay for classes whenever they want, wherever they are. With a branded mobile app, you can stay connected with your customers and give them more access to your business.

A branded mobile app also helps improve engagement and retention with push notifications. Push notifications can be used to send reminders, schedule updates, highlight upcoming events and promotions, and more.

Check out The Ultimate Guide to Using Push Notifications to Improve Retention.

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Dig Deeper: AdvocacyReviewsAs you know, reviews are important. That’s why you should regularly encourage your best customers to share positive feedback. Use Marketing Suite to automatically prompt your members to leave a review on your website, Facebook, Google, and other review sites.

ReferralsThe most effective form of marketing is word-of-mouth. In fact, 92% of customers rely on recommendations from friends and family. A referral program can help increase your clientele and meet your revenue goals, and show members your appreciation.

Once you’ve defined your incentives (discounts on memberships, free classes or apparel, etc.) tell your clients about the program with email marketing, social media, and signage in your facility.

With the retention tools in Marketing Suite, you can automate the process and convert happy clients into advocates with rewards for referring friends and family.

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Opencycle studios

By now, you’ve seen where your business thrives and where you can provide an even better experience. Remember—as you upgrade the customer touchpoints that need work, or confirm best practices where you’re doing great—that consistency is key.

Customers should know they’ll get the same high-quality service online that they would from your front desk staff. And, they should recognise your website, social media, and studio or gym as one, cohesive brand.

When all the elements work together, your business will be easy for customers to promote to their family, friends, and networks. You’ve got this—and we’re here to help. Schedule a consultation to learn more.

We'd like to welcome you to join the Opencycle family!